Edward R. Murrow said it best, “This instrument (television) can teach, it can illuminate, yes, and even it can inspire; but, it can do so only to the extent that humans are determined to use it to those ends. Otherwise, it’s nothing but wires and lights in a box.”

Earlier this month, more than 3,000 concerned citizens – community organizers, working journalists, educators and policy analysts – met in Memphis for the National Media Reform Conference. The third meeting of its kind in as many years, this year’s conference signaled the movement’s coming of age. —>http://talkback.lancasteronline.com/index.php?showtopic=41151

~

Vlogging at Access San Francisco
by D. Boyer
Indymedia
01/30/07

The digital age, along with the internet, has brought on a plethora of ways to get messages heard, and stories told, and now the city that experienced the dot com boom and bust is now leading the west coast in teaching new internet media. Accessf, San Francisco’s public access channel at 1720 Market Street is teaching vlogging. For the first time an Internet medium is being taught at San Francisco’s public access station. —>http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/01/30/18354210.php

~

Kicking the cable TV and land line telephone habit
Jsstudios
01/30/07

—> Since I decided to do it, I’ve come across a couple of articles that tout the benefits of ditching cable tv. For example, a blogger at zdnet decided he could save about $300 a year by ditching cable tv and using iTunes and netflix. I also read an article the other day about subscription television. I bring up that link primarily because it’s relevant to my post a little later on and because the author states that he hasn’t been a cable tv subscriber for some time. The point at which it has become difficult to balance the cost of cable television and land line phone services offered has been reached. —>http://www.jsstudios.com/2007/01/30/kicking-the-cable-tv-and-land-line-telephone-habit/

Moon Twp. – The Moon Area School Board and Moon Community Access Television have reached an agreement that makes the board responsible for the production of its monthly meetings, but viewers at home probably won’t notice a difference. Under terms of the agreement, the public cable station will continue to record the board’s regular monthly meetings with one camera, and the school district will be responsible for the quality of the audio. “You’ll see no real difference in the broadcasts,” said MCA-TV executive producer James Koepfinger.

Last year, 881 of 1,044 households that responded to a survey by the station ranked Moon Area School Board meetings, which are known for lengthy and at times heated debates, as the program they most often watched. But the meetings also ranked as the poorest in audio and visual quality.

Local public television expands to education issues
Central Coast News
01/30/07

Santa Maria’s noncommercial television has grown into its channels – now offering one station each for public access, government and educational programming. After operating with two of its dedicated channels, Santa Maria Community Television on Thursday is launching channel 24 as the dedicated education station. Previously, only channels 23 and 25 were used, airing government and public access programming, respectively. —>http://www.santamariatimes.com/articles/2007/01/30/news/centralcoast/news07.txt

MARLBOROUGH – Local pro wrestler Chris “The Skunk” Antal has become infamous in Brazil now that at a national TV program has aired video of the Marlborough resident desecrating a Brazilian flag. In the latest installment of his public access cable show, “Pro Wrestling Monthly,” Antal vilifies Brazilian immigrants and then appears to urinate on their native country’s flag. —>http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/homepage/8998969561101369343

~

Why we should be tuning in to TU-TV
by John Lamb
The Temple News
01/30/07

Mike Hudack is the CEO of blip.tv. He is a big presence within the videoblogging Yahoo forum group and by far the most accessible CEO I have ever met. In my interview with him, we covered a range of topics that I think every videoblogger should be thinking about: content rights, advertising, mobile distribution and upcoming features on blip.tv.

More than a million users have signed a Save the Internet poll in favor of net-neutrality legislation. The concern for many is that network operators will reserve the fastest connections for their own services or those companies that pay premiums, slowing down competitors by comparison and possibly pushing some small companies out of the market —>http://business.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=1310047RGA3K

~

Apple TV Knocking off Cable?Home Theatre View01/29/07

Alan Graham proposes that Apple’s Apple TV is aiming at the heart of the cable TV business model:

“Is Apple Out to Kill Tivo? by ZDNet’s Alan Graham — Yeah, I’m calling it. I think Apple (and others) are about to send Cable TV and Tivo a clear message…your time is almost up. The Web 2.0 world is about to kick the door in and escort the old methodology to pasture. And I think it is going to happen pretty quickly.” —>http://hometheaterview.typepad.com/hometheaterview/2007/01/itv_knocking_of.html

The Internet is set to revolutionize television within five years, due to an explosion of online video content and the merging of PCs and TV sets, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates said on Saturday. “I’m stunned how people aren’t seeing that with TV, in five years from now, people will laugh at what we’ve had,” he told business leaders and politicians at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. —> http://news.com.com/Gates+Internet+to+revolutionize+TV+in+5+years/2100-1041_3-6154009.html

What do you do when good people, people you consider to be your friends, make bad decisions—bad decisions that are not only self-defeating, but hurt the community? MCTV does a great job of taping public meetings on the Coastside. They’ve done it for decades and for scant rewards. —>

East Valley Tribune
01/28/07
Last year, Chandler Mayor Boyd Dunn thwarted a plot to divert a truckload of rubberized asphalt needed to complete the Loop 202 Santan Freeway. No, not really. Actually, it was the plot of Chandler’s annual highlights show aired before the mayor’s state of the city speech last January. —>http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/index.php?sty=83074

TV cameras focus on town officials: Relaxing at home, residents can watch government at work
Newsday
01/27/07

All across the East End, residents can watch their town board meetings on cable. The videotaped sessions are shown on special public access channels several times a month. In Southampton, meetings also are available on the Internet. And in a few months, viewers will be able to go right to a specific portion of a meeting to see, for example, debate on a particular resolution. In contrast, Babylon, Huntington and Islip towns in western Suffolk do not televise their meetings at all. None of Nassau’s three towns do it, either. And one reason could be as simple as a lack of interest.—>http://www.newsday.com/features/printedition/longislandlife/ny-lftstory5066970jan28,0,4494574.story?coll=ny-lilife-print

Public access TV host creates spoof MySpace pages of city council members
Southwest Journal
01/26/07

City Council Member Gary Schiff (10th Ward) was a little confused when a friend sent him a text message asking to be added to his MySpace page last fall. “I saw it and kind of freaked out because I didn’t know I had a MySpace page,” Schiff said. Unbeknownst to most of them, each Minneapolis City Council Member and the mayor has had a profile on the popular social networking web site MySpace.com since the summer, thanks to the host of a late-night Minnesota Television Network program. Hamil Griffin-Cassidy, host of “Totally Scrabble Tuesday,” a show on which he plays Scrabble against viewers who call him, created the pages with his girlfriend. —>http://www.swjournal.com/articles/2007/01/26/news/news10.txt

Adam Bhala Lough Interview
IndieWIRE
01/27/07

—> How did you learn about filmmaking?

I learned about filmmaking primarily at age 15 when I began working at Blockbuster Video and interning at a Public Access Television station in my neighborhood. I taught myself how to use cameras and how to edit on an analogue video-editing machine. —>http://www.indiewire.com/people/2007/01/park_city_07_in_32.html

A Public Agenda for the Future of Communications

Digital Destiny
Jeff Chester
01/27/07

We don’t think it’s time for half-measures or a narrow focus when it comes to principles to govern and shape our digital media system. It’s time for real action, going beyond the current focus on network neutrality and media ownership of broadcasting. Access to broadband–its connections and much of its content– is a “civil right” in this century. —>http://www.democraticmedia.org/jcblog/?p=155

Web site owner fights for tapes of council meetings
Coastsider.com webmaster battles local cable channel over access
San Mateo County Times
01/27/07

Pacifica cable show leaves its ‘prints’
San Mateo County Times
01/27/07

PACIFICA — After a successful career in the grocery business, James Parsons, 75, never thought he would find work again — much less as the floor manager of an award-winning local cable TV show. But when he was recruited to work on the set of the Pacifica Historical Society’s program, “Footprints of Pacifica,” it was clear he was a natural.—>http://www.insidebayarea.com/sanmateocountytimes/ci_5100927

Competition Fuels Local TV Growth
AlgoRhythms

01/27/07

Digital convergence – the media trinity of voice, video and broadband – could be coming soon to Claremont, Newport, Springfield and other towns. Two companies, Comcast and FairPoint Communications, recently revealed plans to offer a combination of digital television, telephone and Internet access to their newly acquired customers in New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine. —>http://localrhythms.wordpress.com/2007/01/27/competition-fuels-local-tv-growth/

Over The Top: Five Key Take-Aways for Executives
Media 3.0 with Shelly Palmer
01/27/07

—> Cable Operators and Telcos who are trying to become MSOs like to bundle their service offerings into what everyone now calls the “triple play,” video, voice and data. Phone companies have started offering the “quadruple play,” which includes wireless. People who are experts in such matters will tell you that a triple play customer is 40 percent less likely to churn out of a service offering. So it is easy to understand why everyone is pushing the package. —>http://advancedmediacommittee.typepad.com/emmyadvancedmedia/2007/01/over_the_top_fi.html

What would you like for the capital?
Kennebec Journal & Morning Sentinel
01/27/07

When Toledo announced plans last week for a citywide wi-fi network, it was catching up with more than 300 communities across the country. And many of those communities are in Michigan. While no state bests California for the number of communities – 31 – with municipal wireless projects either built or under way, Michigan is No. 2 with 13, according to a list compiled by MuniWireless.com. Ohio has four. —>http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070127/NEWS16/701270344/-1/NEWS

Disabled man hosts TV show with help of celebrities
The Detroit News
01/27/07

WEST BLOOMFIELD — The first call came from Regis Philbin, the reigning king of morning television, in January 2006. A week later, late-night host Jimmy Kimmel left a message. And so began Jason Antone’s transformation from a picked-on disabled kid to a cable television host whose fame is growing almost as fast as the list of big-time celebrities who call in. —>http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070127/ENT02/701270371/1003/METRO

—> All of the preschool and day-care programs in the county were invited to attend a free program at the Main library. For 10 days the auditorium was transformed into a fire-safety center for children 2 to 5 years old. These programs were taped and aired on the local access cable television station for use by families throughout the county. —>http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/news/local/16553819.htm

Boxing day: City mulls sites for new telecom service
By Kevin Courtney
Napa Valley Register
01/26/07

The local phone company is about to compete with cable and satellite to offer TV services to Napa residents, but first the pesky issue of where to place refrigerator-sized transmission boxes in neighborhoods must be resolved. AT&T will use its fiberoptic network and a new Internet technology to begin offering interactive, high-definition video services to local homes, possibly by late spring. The new service could be a financial boon for Napa TV, the local public access channels and, to a lesser extent, city coffers, with AT&T paying a 5 percent franchise fee. —> http://www.napavalleyregister.com/articles/2007/01/26/news/local/doc45ba04e3b5e45458378428.txt

Re: I Want My MTA-TV
Subchat.com
Posted by SelkirkTMO
01/26/07

Gene Russianoff of the Straphangers Campaign said in a better world, the state would have a cable channel that broadcast meetings of public authorities, agencies and boards into homes. Not every roof has a computer under it, he said.

Heh. I contructed and then operated a state channel called NY-SCAN up here in Smallbany back in 1985 whose express PURPOSE in being was PRECISELY this … but the cable industry decided to make it go the way of public access and Mario Cuomo, bending to industry pressure, shut it down. Paturkey came along and then threw away several MILLION dollars worth of television equipment that I’d built plus killed the state agency that would have made it all happen.

Cox Communications tried to force the city to suspend formal cable license negotiations Thursday, then backed off after the deadline Cox tried to impose passed. The city refused to meet the deadline for what Cox called its final offer in the negotiations. —>http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/local/39902.php

C-U Bogfidential
01/26/07
747 Productions, founded by brothers Gregory and Douglas Berry (who are also professional pilots, hence the name), recently premiered its program WATCH MY SHORTS on ACCESS 4, a public-access channel based at the University of Illinois at Springfield in partnership with the Insight Communications cable company. —>http://www.micro-film-magazine.com/cublog/?p=127

Action Alert – ATT Proposal To Fayetteville
Arkansaas.indymedia.org
Author: * Sky at CAT
01/26/07As was mentioned by long-time journalist Bill Moyers at the recent National Media Reform Conference in Memphis, the media giants will stop at nothing in order to consolidate, not only their profits but their power to control the content of what the average person is exposed to . In recent days, AT&T has made a proposal to the City of Fayetteville which could, in the long run, adversely affect Community Access Television and internet service in the local area. What follows serves to further explain the potential threat which now looms over independent media in Fayetteville. —>http://arkansas.indymedia.org/feature/display/18873/index.php

* Home* About *Clippings for PEG Access Television syndicates its weblog posts and Comments using a technology called RSS (Real Simple Syndication). You can use a service like Bloglines to get notified when there are new posts to this weblog.